White feminism is a form of feminism that focuses on the struggles of white women while supposedly failing to address distinct forms of oppression faced by ethnic minority women and women lacking other privileges.[1]

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First-wave feminism began in the early modern period and continued into the early 20th century, and focused primarily on legal issues pertaining to women, especially women's suffrage. This wave officially started after Seneca Falls and emerged out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist politics and the goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on suffrage.[2] It was a movement predominantly organized and defined by middle-class, educated white women, and concentrated mostly on issues pertaining to them.[3][4]

Some ethnic minority women were embraced in the movement, such as suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh among the British first-wave feminists. However, there is little evidence that black women participated in the British suffragette effort. In 1893, New Zealand became the first nation to grant women of all races the right to vote; this was met with anger from suffragists including Millicent Fawcett, who expressed displeasure that Māori women in one of the British colonies were able to vote, while British women of society were not.[5]Susan B. Anthony (a staunch abolitionist) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for white women to get the right to vote in the United States of America, prioritising this above black men getting the right to vote.[6] Anthony and Stanton were wary of creating an "aristocracy of sex"; rather, they proposed universal suffrage, such that the black community and women (including black women) get enfranchised at the same time.

Second-wave feminism, particularly at its outset, was similarly shaped by middle-class, educated white women, and again did not tend to consider issues relevant specifically to ethnic minority women.[7]

During the second and third-wave feminist periods, scholars from marginalised communities began to write back against the way feminist movements had been essentializing the experiences of women. The notable feminist scholar bell hooks brought this issue to the forefront of feminist thought, regularly writing about the struggles that black women experienced and emphasizing that the feminist movement was exclusionary towards those women by virtue of its inattention to the interactions between race, gender, and class.[8] Hooks argued that white women should recognise that they, like ethnic minority men, occupied a position of being both oppressed while also being oppressors.

Today's feminists sometimes emphasize intersectional perspectives in their work.[9] Despite this, some have argued that feminist media continues to overrepresent the struggles of straight, middle class, white women.[10][7] The position held by some modern feminist authors that racism is not an element of society that feminism needs to be concerned with has also been cited as exemplifying white feminism.[11]

It has also been argued that the beliefs of some feminists that hijabs, burqas, and niqabs are oppressive toward Muslim women are representative of white feminism. Notably, many Muslim women have spoken out in defense of their religious dress practices.[12]

White feminism portrays a view of feminism that can be separated from issues of class, race, ability, and other oppressions. An example of white feminism in the present day can be seen in the work of Emily Shire,[13] politics editor at Bustle and an op-ed contributor for The New York Times. Shire argues that feminism excludes some women who do not share political viewpoints when it takes positions on Israel and Palestine, efforts to raise the minimum wage, and efforts to block the construction of oil pipelines.[14] Shire's position contrasts with intersectional feminist activists who view pay equity, social justice, and international human rights as essential and inseparable commitments of feminism, as articulated in the Day Without a Woman platform that "[recognizes] the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system – while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity".[15] While Shire advocates for a feminism that achieves inclusivity by avoiding political positions so as to not alienate women who disagree with those positions,[14] organizers of the Women's March hold the principle that "women have intersecting identities" necessitating a movement that focuses on a "comprehensive agenda".[16]